Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / Football at Four: A Look Forward Post-Bye For the Eagles
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Jeff Mosher from the Inside the Birds podcast Phillyvoice dot
- 0:03Speaker 1: Com is here to kind of help us answer some
- 0:06Speaker 1: of these questions. As we were talking about before you
- 0:09Speaker 1: got in, Jeff yesterday. I don't know if you heard
- 0:11Speaker 1: Hallie Roseman. One of the lines that stood out to
- 0:13Speaker 1: me was Roseman he called Michael Carter elite. He described
- 0:19Speaker 1: him as an elite cover guy, inside cover guy, and
- 0:23Speaker 1: I thought that was a kind of a hot word
- 0:26Speaker 1: for me that stood out.
- 0:29Speaker 2: Yeah, that's an interesting word. Elite.
- 0:32Speaker 3: I mean zone corner is what I told I was
- 0:37Speaker 3: told he really specialized in because when he really had
- 0:41Speaker 3: his best years, he was playing for Robert Salah and
- 0:44Speaker 3: Jeff Ulbrick and they ran a lot more zone than
- 0:47Speaker 3: Aaron Glenn.
- 0:48Speaker 2: So one usually when you hear somebody described as.
- 0:50Speaker 3: An elite coverage guy, they're talking about man defense. Maybe
- 0:54Speaker 3: what how he was saying is within his zone responsibilities,
- 0:57Speaker 3: he's elite in his coverage, which is possible. Well, I
- 1:00Speaker 3: don't know, but that's that's the book on Michael Carter, right.
- 1:04Speaker 1: So I mean, if you let's just play along, Okay,
- 1:07Speaker 1: you got this guy who comes in and writ he says,
- 1:11Speaker 1: that's what he said I will put the full quota
- 1:13Speaker 1: up on the screen so everybody can read it. When
- 1:15Speaker 1: you talk about Michael Carter, the guy has played at
- 1:17Speaker 1: an elite level inside, so that gives you flexibility there.
- 1:21Speaker 1: So I was kind of thinking, like, that gives you flexibility,
- 1:25Speaker 1: which is what you have from the guy that was
- 1:27Speaker 1: playing in that spot, right, a guy who gives you flexibility.
- 1:30Speaker 1: So I'm wondering if they view Michael Carter as a
- 1:32Speaker 1: guy that they can now utilize Cooper de Gene's flexibility
- 1:37Speaker 1: in a different manner.
- 1:40Speaker 2: They could.
- 1:41Speaker 3: And so what we know about Michael Carter is the
- 1:44Speaker 3: workerm at Nicol, the work I'm at safety. But I
- 1:47Speaker 3: also think that something that we talked about on Inside
- 1:49Speaker 3: the Birds is that And I think how he was
- 1:52Speaker 3: alluding to this when he talked about Maddox comparison is
- 1:56Speaker 3: that they've typically had somebody who could play both of
- 1:59Speaker 3: those spots. And you know, they typically have had someone
- 2:02Speaker 3: who can allow you to play some big nickel or
- 2:04Speaker 3: dime to match up against some of the better pass.
- 2:06Speaker 2: Offenses in the league.
- 2:08Speaker 3: And if he's really talented you and he's playing well,
- 2:12Speaker 3: why wouldn't you.
- 2:12Speaker 2: Choose that kind of a package.
- 2:14Speaker 3: To match up against more spread out defenses instead of
- 2:17Speaker 3: trying to defend everything in Nicole all the time. If
- 2:19Speaker 3: you have an elite quote unquote elite cover guy, then
- 2:22Speaker 3: throw him on the field.
- 2:24Speaker 4: No question.
- 2:25Speaker 1: You know, if he's an elite player and you can
- 2:28Speaker 1: use him, I would like to I like to see that, right,
- 2:31Speaker 1: we would all kind of like to see that. I
- 2:33Speaker 1: thought the other he brought up, Ji or Alexander. I
- 2:36Speaker 1: want to kind of get your thoughts on what he
- 2:38Speaker 1: said here, which you know I've said it's almost.
- 2:41Speaker 4: Like a gambling tout right. He says sometimes.
- 2:45Speaker 1: In this league you acquire information, you watch everything, and
- 2:50Speaker 1: you feel like, hey, the risk is worth the reward here.
- 2:53Speaker 1: So I guess did they call Baltimore and is it
- 2:56Speaker 1: customary for Baltimore and say, hey, listen, the guy can
- 2:58Speaker 1: still play. He just doesn't fit our system. He would
- 3:01Speaker 1: fit what you guys are doing over there.
- 3:05Speaker 3: The first part of that, yes, I'm sure they had
- 3:07Speaker 3: conversations with Baltimore about him beyond just what do you
- 3:11Speaker 3: want for him? Because Howie has had a very good
- 3:13Speaker 3: relationship with the Ravens for years. Their GM is Eric
- 3:17Speaker 3: da Costa. He's been in the building for quite a
- 3:19Speaker 3: while he was. Ozzie knew some understudy before Ozzi, you know,
- 3:24Speaker 3: gave it, retired and Eric became GM and Ozzie and
- 3:28Speaker 3: Howie Roseman always had a good relationship.
- 3:31Speaker 2: In fact, I'm pretty sure.
- 3:32Speaker 3: They have houses on the Florida Panhandle very close to
- 3:35Speaker 3: each other. I do recall how he wants talking about
- 3:38Speaker 3: negotiating that Tim Jernigan deal and that they traded. You
- 3:42Speaker 3: remember they traded for Tim Jerny, They flipped picks in
- 3:46Speaker 3: the draft and so forth. They said that they sort
- 3:49Speaker 3: of negotiated that, or the ideas was hatched on the
- 3:51Speaker 3: beach somewhere. So I'm sure that there were honest conversations
- 3:54Speaker 3: from the Ravens about JayR Alexander. I don't think that
- 3:57Speaker 3: jayra It wasn't that he didn't fit there scheme. I mean,
- 4:01Speaker 3: they signed him because they wanted him to be the
- 4:04Speaker 3: outside corner opposite Nate Wiggins and then to be able
- 4:06Speaker 3: to play Marlon Humphrey at the nickel and keep Kyle
- 4:09Speaker 3: Hamilton in safety. But they didn't, you know, so now
- 4:12Speaker 3: they have a Humphrey on the outside and Hamilton plays
- 4:15Speaker 3: nickel and safety.
- 4:16Speaker 2: So you know, to me, it's.
- 4:19Speaker 3: Probably the conversations about conditioning and whether or not coming
- 4:22Speaker 3: back from that the knee surgery that he had, whether
- 4:25Speaker 3: he was one hundred percent at all when he was
- 4:27Speaker 3: with a Raven even if he wasn't on the injury report,
- 4:31Speaker 3: Was he at least function like healthy and good enough
- 4:34Speaker 3: to go out and play and be good when he played,
- 4:37Speaker 3: And clearly the Ravens didn't think he was. But maybe
- 4:39Speaker 3: now I'm hypothetically talking, but maybe the conversation was, hey,
- 4:42Speaker 3: maybe if he gives four more weeks or by the
- 4:44Speaker 3: time the playoffs roll around, he's better than the version.
- 4:48Speaker 2: That we had of him. Maybe that was the kind
- 4:50Speaker 2: of conversation.
- 4:51Speaker 1: Uh, did you get any thoughts on Jalen Phillips and
- 4:56Speaker 1: how they're gonna kind of, you know, is he guy?
- 4:59Speaker 1: Do you kind of feel like he's the guy and
- 5:01Speaker 1: then the other two guys are gonna have to figure
- 5:02Speaker 1: out their roles?
- 5:04Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean he's got to be because he's that good,
- 5:07Speaker 3: and he's big. He's two hundred and sixty five pounds,
- 5:09Speaker 3: maybe even a little bit bigger, bigger than that. And
- 5:12Speaker 3: we talked a lot after Zadarius Smith retired about how
- 5:15Speaker 3: much lighter the Eagles were on the edges.
- 5:17Speaker 2: I mean Joe's Hunt to fifty ish.
- 5:22Speaker 3: Josh Ucha is listed at two twenty, so maybe he's
- 5:24Speaker 3: a little bit bigger than that two thirty at max right,
- 5:28Speaker 3: Nolan Smith is when he comes back, is not a
- 5:30Speaker 3: very big guy.
- 5:31Speaker 2: He's in the two thirties, so you know, this is
- 5:33Speaker 2: a guy who's built for the long haul.
- 5:35Speaker 3: He's built to play the position, built to play a
- 5:36Speaker 3: lot of snaps, had a very good has He will
- 5:40Speaker 3: instantaneously bring the best pass rush win rate among all
- 5:44Speaker 3: Eagles edge defenders to the team, which is something that
- 5:48Speaker 3: will be on tomorrow morning. On the inside the Burgs platform,
- 5:50Speaker 3: we have inside the data with Sam Finkel and he
- 5:53Speaker 3: had a lot of good data and analytics points on
- 5:55Speaker 3: Jalalen Phillips.
- 5:56Speaker 2: So yeah, he's he's the.
- 5:58Speaker 3: Number one of your three headed maybe four headed pass rush.
- 6:01Speaker 1: Yeah, Nolan Smith. The practice windows open, so he'll be
- 6:04Speaker 1: back at practice. We talked about him Monday and whether
- 6:06Speaker 1: or not he played down that doesn't mean he's gonna
- 6:07Speaker 1: play in the game on Monday, but he'll be back
- 6:09Speaker 1: at practice. So you have Nolan Smith, Jylex Hunt, Jalen Phillips.
- 6:13Speaker 1: I guess Brandon Graham is your fourth guy, and then
- 6:16Speaker 1: Ja or maybe Jas your fourth guy, and Brandon Graham
- 6:19Speaker 1: is your fifth guy.
- 6:20Speaker 2: Yeah, that's probably more like him.
- 6:22Speaker 1: Right because Roseman said on the crop of edge rushers
- 6:25Speaker 1: our best teams, We've been fortunate to be in three
- 6:28Speaker 1: Super Bowls over the last eight years, and they've been
- 6:30Speaker 1: led by our front. And I guess the one question is,
- 6:33Speaker 1: is this front now potentially with Phillips, Hunt, Nolan better
- 6:39Speaker 1: than Josh Sweat, Hunt, Nolan Smith. Yes, Jalen Phillips comparable
- 6:47Speaker 1: to Josh Schwett. Can he be better than Josh Schwett.
- 6:51Speaker 2: Yeah, he can be.
- 6:52Speaker 3: I mean, Josh Sweat has played really well, and Jalen Phillips,
- 6:56Speaker 3: I think we all have to see. I mean, we
- 6:59Speaker 3: can all speculate on the now, but the reality is
- 7:01Speaker 3: he's had two major major lower leg injuries, the ACL
- 7:05Speaker 3: and the achilles, in back to back years. So I
- 7:09Speaker 3: don't know what kind of impact that has had on him.
- 7:11Speaker 3: I don't know if he's not as good of the
- 7:14Speaker 3: player that he was two or three years ago because
- 7:16Speaker 3: of it. He could be. He could very well be
- 7:18Speaker 3: that player. And then yes, he's just as good or
- 7:22Speaker 3: right up there with Josh Swat, I wouldn't look at
- 7:24Speaker 3: it as this year's edge rush versus last year's. I
- 7:27Speaker 3: would look at it as this year's fore man rush
- 7:31Speaker 3: versus last year's. And one thing I noticed today. You
- 7:34Speaker 3: know Brandon Thorn, You probably know who.
- 7:35Speaker 2: He is, right.
- 7:36Speaker 3: He tracks a lot of the offensive line and pass
- 7:38Speaker 3: rusher pass rushers around the league. He had a list
- 7:42Speaker 3: of all the best win rate guys in the league,
- 7:44Speaker 3: and man Milton Williams is right up there. So that
- 7:48Speaker 3: just shows you when you have Sweat and Milton Williams
- 7:49Speaker 3: last year, that's tough to replicate, especially with Jillen Carter
- 7:53Speaker 3: this year playing well but not as dominantly as last year.
- 7:57Speaker 3: So I think the question is will their fore man
- 7:59Speaker 3: rush be as impactful going forward this year as it
- 8:02Speaker 3: was last year?
- 8:02Speaker 2: And that remains to be seen.
- 8:05Speaker 1: What did you make of the answer he gave on
- 8:08Speaker 1: AJ Brown yesterday? Did you get any kind of like
- 8:12Speaker 1: he said? I think that you're trying to be a
- 8:14Speaker 1: great team. It's hard to trade great players. He wears
- 8:16Speaker 1: the Sea for a reason. I think he went out
- 8:18Speaker 1: of his way to say that he's an important part
- 8:20Speaker 1: of this team, of this organization.
- 8:21Speaker 4: He cares about winning.
- 8:22Speaker 1: He cares about his teammates, and I think when you're
- 8:24Speaker 1: a team like ours that is looking forward to the
- 8:26Speaker 1: opportunity to can be for a championship, you just don't
- 8:28Speaker 1: get rid of guys like that. We feel very lucky
- 8:30Speaker 1: to have him on our team and excited about the
- 8:32Speaker 1: second half of our season. Is that a ringing endorsement
- 8:34Speaker 1: of what are you guys talking about?
- 8:37Speaker 2: Well? See, that's the funny thing.
- 8:38Speaker 3: I think how he has grown and he's learned, and
- 8:41Speaker 3: obviously winning two Super Bowls and going to three gives
- 8:43Speaker 3: him a little bit more of a security about himself.
- 8:46Speaker 3: The first five years in the league, there were times
- 8:48Speaker 3: how he would just straight up bs people and if
- 8:50Speaker 3: you asked about something like this, he would almost say,
- 8:53Speaker 3: I don't know why, you know, I'm not gonna comment
- 8:54Speaker 3: or I'm not gonna talk about a player who's not
- 8:57Speaker 3: on the trade block or things. But the narrative out there,
- 9:01Speaker 3: and he knows why it's out there, and he knows
- 9:03Speaker 3: that there's there's truth to some of the narrative of
- 9:06Speaker 3: AJ not being the happiest guy.
- 9:08Speaker 2: In the world.
- 9:09Speaker 3: So he's not trying to sugarcoat that, but he is
- 9:11Speaker 3: trying to tell you. So he's not trying to deny
- 9:14Speaker 3: that there might have been conversations or speculation about it.
- 9:18Speaker 3: But what he's basically saying, and I think he's right
- 9:19Speaker 3: on this, is that what benefit is it to the
- 9:22Speaker 3: Eagles winning a Super Bowl to have aj Brown not
- 9:26Speaker 3: on the team? So it's not necessarily a ringing endorsement
- 9:30Speaker 3: that he'll be with the team in twenty twenty six.
- 9:34Speaker 2: I can't tell you that. I don't know.
- 9:35Speaker 3: I want to see how the rest of the things,
- 9:37Speaker 3: how the rest of the year shakes out. But to me,
- 9:40Speaker 3: I never really thought that he was going to be
- 9:42Speaker 3: traded this year because it goes against what they're trying
- 9:45Speaker 3: to accomplish.
- 9:46Speaker 4: I agree with that right there.
- 9:47Speaker 1: Jeff Bosher from the Inside of the Birds podcast, Inside
- 9:50Speaker 1: the Bird dot com, Phillyvoice dot com. Coming out of this,
- 9:54Speaker 1: they're gonna play this Packercy. We've been asking our listeners
- 9:57Speaker 1: to vote which team worries you the in the NFC
- 10:01Speaker 1: race right now, Packers, Lions, Rams, Seahawks. Packers only getting
- 10:08Speaker 1: five percent of the vote. Right now, where do you
- 10:12Speaker 1: think they should be on that list?
- 10:14Speaker 3: You know, either only getting five percent of the vote.
- 10:16Speaker 3: It goes into your one of your favorite things. Everybody
- 10:18Speaker 3: only remembers what they saw last, and they what everybody
- 10:21Speaker 3: saw last was the Packers losing at home to Okay
- 10:25Speaker 3: Carolina Panthers team.
- 10:27Speaker 2: Right, so now all of a sudden, they're not fearsome.
- 10:29Speaker 2: But listen, that's a team that has a lot of talent.
- 10:32Speaker 2: They can absolutely win the game. They're good. They're a
- 10:36Speaker 2: little bit banged up.
- 10:37Speaker 3: You know, Jacobs has been banged up, and of course
- 10:39Speaker 3: Golden Hert and losing Tucker Craft really is a big
- 10:44Speaker 3: loss for them. And in fact, I'm a little surprised
- 10:47Speaker 3: that they went all in on Micah Parsons but then
- 10:49Speaker 3: didn't try to go get themselves like a David Nijoku
- 10:52Speaker 3: at the trade deadline to continue to be all in.
- 10:55Speaker 3: I know it's not the Packers' style to make a
- 10:58Speaker 3: whole lot of headline splashing moves, but if you're trying
- 11:01Speaker 3: to win a Super Bowl, I feel like it just
- 11:02Speaker 3: got harder by losing Craft because he's that good of
- 11:06Speaker 3: a tight end.
- 11:07Speaker 2: So but they're a good team.
- 11:09Speaker 3: They have a good coach who has a good feel
- 11:12Speaker 3: for the game and good play calling, and every time
- 11:14Speaker 3: they played the Eagles, it's been pretty clear.
- 11:16Speaker 2: The game in Brazil was close, the playoff game was close.
- 11:18Speaker 3: I mean, they tend to be some kind of ugly
- 11:21Speaker 3: ugly in fact that the Brazil game, weren't they leading
- 11:24Speaker 3: after the first quarter because Jalen had two interceptions early
- 11:26Speaker 3: and then I think the Eagles had to come back
- 11:28Speaker 3: in that game.
- 11:29Speaker 2: So I expect a pretty pretty tough game. The Packers
- 11:33Speaker 2: seem to play to the level of your.
- 11:34Speaker 3: Opponent, So the opponent on Monday night's gonna be a
- 11:37Speaker 3: really good one.
- 11:38Speaker 1: Most we'll get you out on this. The Cowboys made
- 11:40Speaker 1: a trade. They get Quentin Williams. They traded a first
- 11:43Speaker 1: round pick in twenty twenty seven a pick in twenty
- 11:46Speaker 1: twenty six, which is a second round pick. They're three
- 11:50Speaker 1: to five and one. Do you like the move for Dallas?
- 11:54Speaker 3: No, you know I don't, Because we talked about this
- 11:56Speaker 3: a little bit through Tex yesterday. I thought both the
- 11:58Speaker 3: Cowboys and the Colts took Kyle Schwarber twenty twenty three
- 12:04Speaker 3: type swings where you're going for the fences, but there's
- 12:06Speaker 3: a good chance you're gonna strike out. Also, because I
- 12:11Speaker 3: just don't understand the if they feel knee jerk is
- 12:16Speaker 3: what I'm saying. They gave up a lot of really
- 12:18Speaker 3: good future assets to win now when I'm not sure
- 12:25Speaker 3: both teams could afford to sacrifice those future assets to
- 12:30Speaker 3: win now. If you're looking at the Cowboys, you get
- 12:32Speaker 3: a great player in Quentin Williams, no doubt about it, right,
- 12:35Speaker 3: But he's in his second contract already, and you just
- 12:38Speaker 3: gave up a first round pick and a second round pick.
- 12:40Speaker 3: So you're hoping to get like three to four maybe
- 12:43Speaker 3: five good years out of Quentin Williams. But this year,
- 12:46Speaker 3: to me, and I know they don't think this way,
- 12:47Speaker 3: they're not winning the Super Bowl this year, So this
- 12:49Speaker 3: year is already a wash on it. And you gave
- 12:52Speaker 3: up a first round pick. They draft well in the
- 12:54Speaker 3: first round. Outside of Massie Smith, they've drafted well, that's
- 12:57Speaker 3: like a guy that you want to have around for
- 12:59Speaker 3: six or seven year at least making an impact, along
- 13:02Speaker 3: with a second round pick who could be a starter
- 13:04Speaker 3: and play at a starting level for you, maybe a
- 13:06Speaker 3: really good one like a coop of a gen TI
- 13:08Speaker 3: player and give.
- 13:09Speaker 2: You five, six or seven years.
- 13:10Speaker 3: So they gave up too much to get a guy
- 13:13Speaker 3: who's gonna help one part of their defense. Right for
- 13:17Speaker 3: the next three to four years. But are they Are
- 13:20Speaker 3: they going to be good enough? You know, their quarterback
- 13:22Speaker 3: makes a ton of money, he's getting old and he's
- 13:24Speaker 3: always hurt.
- 13:24Speaker 2: Like they might need a quarterback in a year or two.
- 13:27Speaker 2: So I just thought that that was I just didn't
- 13:30Speaker 2: see the senseiment.
- 13:31Speaker 3: I think they view themselves now as instant contenders, and
- 13:34Speaker 3: I don't for the game.
- 13:36Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean, you've got Javian Clowney, who I
- 13:38Speaker 1: think is on the back nine, Logan Wilson, who got
- 13:41Speaker 1: benched by a team that's defense is pretty horrendous.
- 13:45Speaker 4: Right, you know, So that's the two.
- 13:47Speaker 1: You know, they they're Clowney in early in the season,
- 13:50Speaker 1: then Logan Wilson.
- 13:53Speaker 2: Their secondary is a mess.
- 13:54Speaker 1: To me, there's too many good teams for them to
- 13:59Speaker 1: even make the one wild card this year. Yeah, you know,
- 14:03Speaker 1: like I don't even see them as a wildcard team
- 14:05Speaker 1: in this season.
- 14:08Speaker 2: I mean, maybe they're in better shape for it.
- 14:11Speaker 3: I have to check, guy, But like you're saying, there's
- 14:13Speaker 3: a lot of good NFC teams.
- 14:15Speaker 2: You know, maybe they.
- 14:16Speaker 1: Think the West teams just beat each other up down
- 14:19Speaker 1: the stretch. They got to play each other and the
- 14:21Speaker 1: Seahawks full.
- 14:22Speaker 4: I don't know.
- 14:23Speaker 1: We were looking at the Seahawks. Haven't really beat a
- 14:25Speaker 1: good team this year. The Rams haven't beat a good
- 14:27Speaker 1: team this year either. That being said, Dallas, you know,
- 14:30Speaker 1: come on.
- 14:31Speaker 2: You love the Rams. Haven't beaten a good team this year.
- 14:35Speaker 4: They don't really have.
- 14:38Speaker 2: They beat the Colts.
- 14:39Speaker 4: They did beat the Yes, they did beat.
- 14:41Speaker 2: The Colts, a pretty good win.
- 14:42Speaker 1: Mike, Well, I guess I'm trying if I'm thinking like
- 14:46Speaker 1: the teams that came into the season with high expectations.
- 14:49Speaker 1: The Colts were a team that I don't think but
- 14:51Speaker 1: the Colts is their best win. They beat it banged
- 14:54Speaker 1: up Baltimore team, Jacksonville, New Orleans, Tennessee, and Houston.
- 14:59Speaker 3: Yeah, I I mean, well, going by your expectations going
- 15:02Speaker 3: into the year, beating the Ravens would cancel out the
- 15:05Speaker 3: fact that the Colts weren't sure considered good. They beat
- 15:07Speaker 3: the raven I think they're pretty good because they're like,
- 15:11Speaker 3: and they made a great trade, by the way, like
- 15:13Speaker 3: a really sneaky good trade from a career that gives
- 15:16Speaker 3: them some really good back end depth and optionality. But yeah, yeah,
- 15:20Speaker 3: but don't forget the Cowboys lost to the Panthers right,
- 15:23Speaker 3: and the Panthers are a team that could sneaky win
- 15:26Speaker 3: seven seven right games now, so in the tiebreaker they
- 15:29Speaker 3: lose that.
- 15:29Speaker 1: Yeah, Oh listen, I just think there's too many teams
- 15:32Speaker 1: ahead of them in this trade. I don't think puts
- 15:35Speaker 1: them in the division race. To me, if they're five
- 15:38Speaker 1: to three and one, this trade makes a little bit
- 15:40Speaker 1: more sense three five and one, I'm like, it doesn't
- 15:43Speaker 1: do enough for me to give away a first round
- 15:46Speaker 1: pick and a second round pick.
- 15:47Speaker 4: Uh, he's Jeff Boscher.
- 15:49Speaker 1: We'll do more, of course, all week long on Football
- 15:51Speaker 1: at four as the Eagles get ready for the Green
- 15:53Speaker 1: Bay Packers, and most will be on Monday to preview
- 15:57Speaker 1: that matchup between the Eagles and the Packers. We're gonna
- 15:59Speaker 1: be li at the Fanatic Sportsbook, which brings you Football
- 16:03Speaker 1: four every day on the Sports Bash. Often imitated, never
- 16:07Speaker 1: duplicate it, Jeff, you got it Bike.
- 16:10Speaker 2: Thank you.